Best Decade to Be Young

I’m preparing a ten-week class on youth movies — movies that reflected what it was really like to be young at a particular time. It’s the kind of thing that’s good for young people to see, because it awakens them to a sense that other people went through the same stuff they’re going through and that realization becomes a sort of doorway to art.

But are all decades made equal as good eras in which to be young?

It is the biggest cliche on earth for people to think their time was the best time . . . but it’s hard not to see the 1970s as a great period in which to be a teenager.

Just think what teenagers like to do . . . and then think which decade afforded the best opportunities to do those limited activities that teenagers gravitate toward.

For the record, there was no draft after 1973, and for the rest of the decade, there was no war. The decade had the loosest sexual morals of any in the 20th century, which is not what you want if you’re a parent, but if you’re a teenager, it’s very difficult to complain about that with a straight face. The drug scene wasn’t as deranged as it was in the 1960s — you weren’t obligated, for example, to do LSD if you didn’t want to. (And it wasn’t as insane as it got in the ’80s, with crack.) Aside from the Beatles, most of the great groups we associate with the ’60s did their best work in the 1970s, though the Stones are debatable. Plus, there was Led Zeppelin (aside from the first two albums), then disco, which was a lot better than I thought at the time, plus New Wave at the end of the decade. And a lot of girls looked like Stevie Nicks.

There was, I have to admit, a feeling of no hope, of living in a country in decline, of gas lines, of inflation, of things getting worse . . . but then, just as we were old enough to get jobs, the economy improved and stayed in great shape(except for the recession in ’91-92)for the next 20 years.

But like I said, there is nothing more common than geezers insisting that their era was the best time, man, so I’m probably missing something here. You tell me.

Aside from the ’70s, the 1920s look like a terrific spree — so long as you had a little money and didn’t know the future (the Depression). Like the 70s, 20s styles are distinct, and people had a good time.

The 1930s look rough to me. Fireside Chats are all well and good, but you don’t want to grow up in a Depression if you don’t have to.

The 1940s — that was the war. Horrible. Great music for the first half of the decade, but a lot of hardship and heartbreak, nothing like the good times of the 20s and 70s.

The 1950s: This one looks, to me, like no fun at all. Greasers. Pat Boone. Fallout shelters. Conformity. Some of the worst music of the century in the first part of the decade, then OK early rock and roll, but nothing to compare with what would follow.

The 1960s: People who were there love it. To my eyes, it looks like turmoil, a terrible war, political heartbreak in the form of a trio of unthinkable assassinations, crazy drug use, a lot of wimpy role models for men, a lot of people going without washing and making a political statement of it. The 60s, frankly, just look gross to me. Smelly and grungy and ugly. My apologies. I’m sure I’m missing something. Like Monterey Pop and Michelle Phillips. They would be the upside.

I talked about the Seventies already.

The 1980s: A lot of big hair. A lot of money floating around. This was probably a very decent time in which to be young.

The 1990s: I wasn’t paying attention, to be honest. I have no idea what happened in the 1990s, other than Bill Clinton and me seeing a lot of movies. If you were a teenager in the 1990s, let me know about it.

The 00s: Aside from Eminem’s third album, it’s hard to see how this was much fun for young people. The decade starts in horror, then two wars, then ends with a recession. Plus, there’s the rise of nonstop communication — email, texting, etc. — the rise of the frenetic, constantly intrusive world. I suppose if you’re born into it, that feels delightful, but from the outside it looks pretty stressful.

Now it’s your turn. Tell me if I’m wrong about my assessment of any of these decades — and tell me what was the best decade in which to be young.